Nowruz is just around the corner and Iranians from all social strata, either those living in upscale Tehran or the people whose children in the suburb slums hardly sit a decorated table dinner once a year, are thrilled to celebrate the nation’s oldest tradition and the most cheerful festival.
But Nowruz is not restricted only to those who live within the country’s borders; the Iranian New Year is also an important event in all the regions which were once parts of the greater Iran either Tajikistan and Azerbaijan or Afghanistan and Bahrain. So it does go with a large community of Iranian diaspora from Toronto to Turin to Tokyo and from Canberra to Copenhagen to Cairo.
Preparations for the new year start almost one month earlier in which housewives begin to clean everything from a to z and travel agencies sell train and air tickets for the longest holiday season that an ordinary employee in the public or private sector can get in a year.
Because of the global economic downturn the recent Chinese Lunar New Year depressed many domestic businesses and foreign companies in China, but the same is not happening in Iran. This is partly attributed to the fact that the pains of plummeted oil prices will be felt gradually in the next fiscal year (begins March 21).
And of course for many the event is so important that no economic hardship or potential commodity shortages may dissuade them of shopping and showing off.
“I save the entire year to spend for Nowruz” says Sara a housewife and mother of three children in central Tehran. Asked if the current global financial crisis may influence her family's new year budget, she answers “we simply don’t care much about it and just want to welcome Nowruz with all that is affordable for us”.
Many share Sara’s view in the sense that throughout ages neither drought or disease nor food scarcity or foreign invasion has prevented Iranians of celebrating Nowruz.
“When it comes to the new year I think for the majority of Iranians the global economic slump is only a marginal issue” says Pooya a forty years old high school teacher. “Just look at the overcrowded markets these days and you get the answer” Pooya adds.
For Shahram who imports clothes and fashion stuff from Asian countries, The global economic crisis has even provided a great opportunity to cash in. “I recently could import cheaper than I did six months ago and since this is Iran and people are not used to lower prices, I am actually making a good fortune all thanks to this so-called crisis”, Shahram says.
And for people like Negar who runs a beauty parlor in western Tehran, the countdown to the new year seems to be the peak of working days in a whole year. “I am really overwhelmed these days and my clients have booked to dye their hairs many days ago”, Negar says. “You just get what I mean if you are enough familiar with Iranian women who recently care so much about their appearances”, she adds.
Among well-to-do Iranians, many prefer to spend their holidays somewhere abroad. Malaysia, China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates get a lion share of Iranian tourists during the New Year holidays. “I just paid about $2000 for a 10-day tour to Malaysia and Singapore starting from march 20”, says Fardin who is accompanied by his chubby young wife. They are going to take $5000 additional cash to spend there from eating and drinking to buying souvenirs for a large group of relatives and friends.
Gita who is coaching group tours to Istanbul by bus and airplane says “there is no single seat left in our new year programs and people have booked their places well in advance that we just have to say sorry to new customers and latecomers”. In her view, not for all those Iranians who can afford a foreign vacation about two weeks the global economic meltdown may cause a serious trouble. “Many of those who join our tours never get a penny of oil money”, Gita points out.
Kian Pakroo, managing director of a travel agency in northern Tehran says that “this Nowruz tours are economical because the global slump has left many hotel rooms in tourist destinations empty, and cheap gas prices have also made air tickets more affordable”. Kian recommends other nations to start celebrating Nowruz “if they want to seriously tackle the crisis and contribute to the global economy even as little as what the Iranians are doing, now”.
Having said all, the secret behind Nowruz success in Iran throughout the ages is that it matches with nature, the beginning of spring. The delight among Iranians to see off winter with giving the early days of spring a red carpet treatment resembles a great enthusiasm among the Japanese people to watch another Hanami, the cherry-blossom season roughly in the same time that both nations are joyful too see a pleasant change in nature.
Shirzad Azad is a political economy analyst at the Moj News Agency.
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